Well, FF4: The After Years is supposed to be out next week (June 1). Is anyone else here interested in it?

I'm VERY interested. I'm a big fan of the Final Fantasy series and FF4 was one of the best Nintendo era FFs, imo. That said..well...I'm very nervous about the whole 'episode' nature of the game. Plus, it was a cellphone game orignally too...

So I just wonder: how long will each episode be? How much is each episode going to cost? Will it be worth buying the first episode on day 1 or should I wait? Is waiting even possible for someone addicted to Final Fantasy? lol.

I'm really hoping that each episode is long. You know, at the very least long when you do a lot of leveling up and item hunting and such. If the story for each chapter is short, thats fine. Each chapter just has to have some areas to explore, items to find, and plenty of random battles (leveling up and gaining new powers). Maybe I'm hoping for too much here? Hmm.

So, I'm interested in this game, but I'm not sure if I should get it. I guess I should just wait for the reviews. What do you guys think about FF4? Interested? Not interested? Has Square said anything about length, price or whatever yet? Ya...I know thats not likely. sigh

DF2506

I just want to see how they handle experience. Maybe some transfer method like in the .hack series?

Well, as far as the episodes go, I suspect that there will be an in-game dlc manager like My Life As A King Has. Go to the manager, download an episode, and then once you beat the previous episode, you just go straight into the new episode. Like its just one game.

Either that or each episode will just read your save from the previous episode. Something like that.

Was the .hack series like that or some other method?

I just hope that each episode doesn't cost 1000 points. Though, knowing Square, it might...sigh Which, just means I'll have to either wait on some episodes or just maybe wait on the whole thing till I have the money. Of course...we don't even know how quickly they'll release each episode. I believe there's nine episodes in all. They might keep us waiting a month or more between episodes. Hmm.

I really wish Square had released this as ONE game. I mean, this doesn't look like it'll be any bigger than some of the SNES games that are the VC. My guess is that Greed is the reason that this is in the episodes format instead of one package...

Well, anyway, I hope this is good. I could really use a new FF fix right about now. lol.

It's the sequel to a legendary RPG, Square knows you'll pay 2000 points per episode if they ever decided to price it that high.

I bet they make each episode 500 - 1000 points.

I sure hope it's not 1000 per episode. 90 bucks for this whole game would be ridiculous.

As far as saving data goes, I'm guessing that your levels transfer from episode to episode. Being forced to level grind endlessly on the last few levels would be pure torture. As far as downloading episodes goes, I'm guessing a DLC Manager will be included in the game, but that you can play the game smoothly from episode to episode as long as you have the next episodes to play. As far as pricing, maybe 1000 for the DLC Manager and intro episode, then 200-300 per episode afterwards.

I also think that a big up-front price and then cheaper additional chapters is a possibility or they could just do like StrongBad and put out 9 episodes for 500 each and rake in a decent amount of cash.

Have to agree with Curt, although i had a similar idea before he mentioned his. Here's mine anyway.

I reckon It'll be a lot like Space Invaders: Get Even when it comes to the extra episodes as i don't think it will be released as separate episodes. It's likely they'll release it as one game with the seperate episodes available as DLC, as that would make sense and we wouldn't have to access a new channel each time we want to play the next part, we wouldn't have to wait every month for a new episode neccesarily and we won't have to contantly grind our levels up at each new episode. I'm also believing that, if this is the case, it will fortiunately be a lot smaller in terms of file sizes due to the 16-bit style of the game, which it should be after how bad it was for SIGE. As for pricing, I expect that it will be 500 points for the first episode, the main part of the game and then (Hopefully) no more than 200 per episode as DLC.

I hope it's done like that, it would make the game more appealing to me as I'm interested in the game.

@ Terranigma - A little optimistic with the pricing i suspect but i hope you are correct.

Personally i will not get this untill all episodes are released, and even then i will not get it if it is more than 2500 points for the lot.

@Stevie
They charged 500 for SIGE's starter pack, so i don't see why it wouldn't be the same here. DLC though, that's another matter entirely. I know it's optimistic but they know that we won't buy the game if it costs too much, so I think they'll be careful with that issue.

It is square-enix though and they weren't shy with pricing FF:MLAK & its dlc, and that was when Wiiware was new. They know if people want the game bad enough they will pay, and breaking the game/payments into instalments is a way to mask the full price. It is the 9 episodes that worries me, it just seems way excessive and seems like a ploy to hook people in with a low price for ep1 but milk a lot more from those hooked by the time they have bought all 9 episodes.

I'm going to say 1000 points for a few episodes plus an additional 300-500 points for extra episodes. They're going to assume that not everyone is going to want to buy a second episode so SQ-NX will want to get as much of the ham as they can from one time buyers.

Just in case people are doubting it, it IS coming Monday. So it looks like Texas Hold'em and FFIV: TAY for WiiWare.

@Stevie FF:MLAAK was a full 3d game while this is a 16 bit one. Hopefully, Square Enix will recognize that. I think they know that if they price their game too high then they won't get many sales, so we'll have to wait until Monday to see what happens.

Hopefully. Yet another point for 2D: It tends to be cheaper.

If FFCC MLAAK serves as a indication, the whole FFIV The After Years would cost around $30-35 . Do the math: "base" game: $10-15. Nine separates "tales", each one at $2, 2x9=18. Anyone in this forum know how much cost the FFCC MLAAK DLCs?

Another point which seems to be forgotten is that the DLC in MLAAK is completely optional while each chapter in FF4TAY is required in order to move forward in the game. This might also make a difference in pricing.